Home dojo.....possibly

[Hudson1984]

Hi all, I'm in a bit of a transition phase with work. I've got the possibility of working from home coming up and need a place to be able to work properly....away from the TV and other distractions.

So I'm contemplating making an office on the deck at the bottom of the garden. The could be big enough to house a desk and bits for work and also a bit of a training area.

My query is how big do I really need it? I'd be training mostly alone but sometimes with a sparring partner. But mainly I want to have a space I can use regularly to work on flexibility and technique and some body weight exercising.

The choice is really between building my own (or purchasing a log cabin type summer house) or just renting a local building.

I'm in two minds, but would welcome thoughts. Obviously having something at the bottom of the garden would be great but I'd hate to put all my eggs in the build route for it to turn out to be too small to work and have sunk the funds into something that I don't end up being able to use...

[sensei8]

Welcome to KF, Hudson1984; glad that you're here!!

I'd say that the size you'd need should be big enough to allow you to do all of your Kata's within your style so as to not be cramped; I'd say an extra two feet beyond the furthest point of any Kata's embusen.

Within that space for Kata, you can do partner and solo work with adequate amount of space to train!!

[JR 137]

I was thinking the same thing as Sensei8. Big enough to freely perform any kata you practice. Include kicks in kata too, such as the side kick in Pinan 2.

Your best bet is to probably put a cone where you'd start a kata, and put cones at the furthest points of the kata. I'd add 5 feet to be on the safe side. Mark it off with stakes at the corners and run some twine/rope/wire around the stakes as a perimeter. Work out in that area a few times, and take it from there.

Add appropriate space for punching bags, strength and conditioning equipment if you have any interest in those as well. Same goes for storage. Things like weapons and mats take up space.

[Hudson1984]

thanks for the replies guys. Will have to have a measure out.

The deck is already made so it'll be a case of seeing if there is actually room to do what I want and leave enough deck space for garden furniture like the mrs wants

if not i'll opt for the rental and have something a little larger

[Hawkmoon]

jealous...jealous...jealous...jealous...jealous...jealous...jealous...jealous...jealous...jealous...jealous...jealous...jealous...jealous...

I'd so love to have the space to have a private dojo/gym.

I have day dreamed (really have which is the worrying thing) about having the room to build basically an over-sized garden shed.

Big enough to have an area/ring about 6 meters square, and tall enough to hang a 6 foot bag.

A 6 meter fighting area is smaller than a tournament arena so if/when someone else was working with me it forces us into each others range etc etc.

I've a minds eye picture that having an central area about that size would mean a 'shed' about 8 to 10 meters square and about 2.5 to 3 meters high!

It would have weights, and a practice dummy and so on, high windows to reduce distractions, the floor would be wood, maybe covered in a canvas tarpaulin (no mats)

Did I say I'm jealous?

If you do build it I for one would really love to see some pics.

Good luck to you truly mean it!

[Hudson1984]

hmm think i might end up going the rental route.

the decking is 8m x 4.5m which is a nice size but the mrs wants room for table and chairs and we have a pretty big BBQ so I'd be left with about 4m of the width (at most) and the full 4.5m depth. I don't think that's enough once I put the desk in there etc.

I have found a small property that might be a possibility though, 5m x 5m main room and 5m x 3.5m back room. Back room for office front room for training....

not too expensive either and I know a couple of small martial arts clubs that might like to hire the floor so there might be legs for this one

[tallgeese]

hmm think i might end up going the rental route.

the decking is 8m x 4.5m which is a nice size but the mrs wants room for table and chairs and we have a pretty big BBQ so I'd be left with about 4m of the width (at most) and the full 4.5m depth. I don't think that's enough once I put the desk in there etc.

I have found a small property that might be a possibility though, 5m x 5m main room and 5m x 3.5m back room. Back room for office front room for training....

not too expensive either and I know a couple of small martial arts clubs that might like to hire the floor so there might be legs for this one

I get where you're coming from here. Don't overlook the possibility of hanging a bag from your garden space though. It can be great for a fast few rounds that you might not otherwise get and is much less space invasive. Put up a makawara or two in a manner that doesn't eat up space and suddenly you've got a pretty good spot for a fast workout within paces of a fridge for the post-workout beverage of your choice.

[sensei8]

hmm think i might end up going the rental route.

the decking is 8m x 4.5m which is a nice size but the mrs wants room for table and chairs and we have a pretty big BBQ so I'd be left with about 4m of the width (at most) and the full 4.5m depth. I don't think that's enough once I put the desk in there etc.

I have found a small property that might be a possibility though, 5m x 5m main room and 5m x 3.5m back room. Back room for office front room for training....

not too expensive either and I know a couple of small martial arts clubs that might like to hire the floor so there might be legs for this one

I get where you're coming from here. Don't overlook the possibility of hanging a bag from your garden space though. It can be great for a fast few rounds that you might not otherwise get and is much less space invasive. Put up a makawara or two in a manner that doesn't eat up space and suddenly you've got a pretty good spot for a fast workout within paces of a fridge for the post-workout beverage of your choice.

As far as the makiwara taking up space, and it can, and it will, and it can be a permanent fixture is valuable space. There was a time, and I believe you can still find one, with either Century or AWMA, a makiwara that's built on a small platform that you stand one while training with a makiwara, and it's not cumbersome at all. Then, you can store the makiwara out of the way until you need it again.

[Spartacus Maximus]

A training space large enough for two persons to comfortably practise should ideally be around 6sq meters. In other words 3sq meters per person. In addition, a dojo space should be free of obstacles such as large heavy furniture items that might be injury risks. If the space is shared for other purposes, it should be possible to set up quickly and put away quickly.

[Hudson1984]

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies it’s certainly food for thought. It comes down to this:

Deck: it’s 8m wide and 4.6m deep, so 36.8m2 of space to play with – the Mrs wants to still be able to use it for sitting on the garden furniture, BBQs and stuff like that so that really eat’s up a minimum of 4m of width – so I’m now down to 4m x 4.6m. A 4m x 4m Log cabin that’s comfortable is around £2000 roughly, which is double glazed etc (get’s cold here and I have to work there too) but add a desk and filing cabinet etc. and we’re getting less and less space to play with – but of course, it’s in my garden, I could train properly on lunch breaks and after work and whenever the hell I pleased so that’s a big plus.

Rental: locally the shop I mentioned above is £250 a month, plus bills so probably another £100 on top as it wouldn’t be liable for business rates. So we’re @ £350 a month or £4200 a year – yes much more money, but opens the door to subletting it to smaller clubs or just people like me who want to train so could claw some of that back, a friend of mine teaches Jujitsu and I know he’d certainly like to use some of the space. The space provides 500sq.ft or 47m2. Which is certainly good for all options.

SO… I think if I go deck option I’m committed to solo training really, maybe a bit of pad work but certainly no sparring unless I’m really clever with the space, but it’s much cheaper – especially if I build the thing myself rather than buying a log cabin type thing.

Watch this space – by xmas something will have been decided (find out if the job situation changes 16th October)